Adrian Ivy remembers the first time he saw the news story about a family member’s death. His cousin had been killed during what was initially reported as a drug-related break-in. But as the details emerged, it became clear to Ivy and his family that the narrative was wrong—and the damage had already been done.
“They made it seem like it was about drugs, and it was a break-in, and the person was defending themselves,” Ivy recalled. “That is not it. That is not it.”
To Ivy, the media’s portrayal of his cousin wasn’t just inaccurate—it was dehumanizing. The story reinforced racial stereotypes and left his family to deal not only with grief but with judgment from their own community.
His story is just one of many that reveal the complex and often painful relationship between crime reporting and the people it affects most. And it raises an urgent question: Can journalists do better?
The Challenges of Crime Coverage
In local newsrooms across the country, crime stories are often treated as the bread and butter of daily coverage. Homicides, shootings, robberies, and assaults lead the evening news, dominate headlines, and flood social media feeds. According to WLKY-TV reporter DeAndria Turner, the industry’s obsession with violence has deep roots.
“People say they hate seeing crime on TV or reading it in the paper or reading it online, but it’s one of the most clicked on things,” Turner said. “People are fascinated by it. It does influence what we do.”
Turner would know—her own mother was murdered when she was a child. Now a crime reporter herself, she walks a fine line between being empathetic and doing her job. She’s knocked on the doors of grieving families and tracked down surveillance footage that police never obtained. The hardest part, she said, is being met with silence.
“We depend on police for information,” she said. “I went and knocked on this door, and I talked to this mother, and she says this, can you verify this for me? And they’ll say, ‘No comment, it is an ongoing investigation.'”
Breck Jones, a public information officer for the Oxford, Mississippi police department, said law enforcement has its own challenges.
“I think the biggest thing is just making sure that you’re being as transparent and fair to [the media] as possible. We try to make sure that we have a list, and we’re not going to show preferential treatment,” he said.
Still, he acknowledges the limitations and said sometimes there is information law enforcement cannot share. “I know that’s frustrating to some people sometimes, but it is all about protecting the integrity of an investigation.”
Jones said he believes strong relationships between local journalists and law enforcement lead to better reporting. “You got to understand what their job is and where they’re coming from. They have deadlines and things that they’re trying to meet… and you try to be as respectful to that as you can.”
But those relationships don’t always exist, especially in larger cities where bureaucratic layers create barriers. Turner agrees: “When I worked in Alabama, it was great. I could call the district attorney. I could call the sheriff’s office, or I could call the investigator. But once you get into these bigger cities, it’s kind of like a chain of command that you have to go by.”
Fear as a Byproduct—and a Strategy
Criminologist Wesley Jennings teaches at the University of Mississippi. He believes the public’s fear of crime is not just a byproduct of reporting—it’s often the result of how the news is framed and how frequently violent crime, such as homicide, is reported.
“In reality, you’re much more likely to have your phone stolen, or have somebody take something from your car, than you are being murdered, but just the continued, frequent visibility of it and coverage of it can affect the public’s perception of crime,” Jennings said.
This distortion can have real consequences. Jennings notes that fear influences where people live, how they vote, and how they treat others. It can even shape how much trust they place in the criminal justice system.
And fear sells. As Jennings pointed out, the popularity of true crime podcasts and dramatized TV shows feeds into the same psychological impulse: “Those kinds of crimes do shock the conscience, and that makes people wonder why do people do those kinds of things?”
That curiosity turns crime into content—sometimes at the expense of truth, nuance, or sensitivity.
For Ivy, the way the media sensationalized his cousin’s story didn’t just reflect systemic bias—it created it. The fact that the incident occurred in a predominantly white neighborhood, he said, influenced how it was framed.
“To me, it was like, ‘Okay, another Black guy got killed doing something he had no business doing.’ So, that left the family to have to ask questions.”
Turner, who works in a city with dozens of murders each year, understands that reporting on crime involving marginalized communities requires extra care, but is unsure how best to do that.
“It’s hard. The majority of the people that you report on are marginalized,” she said. “We definitely have more than 140 murders here, and of those, at least 101 of those are Black people. How do you cover that? How are you sensitive to that topic?
Three Keys to Better Crime Reporting
Amid the challenges, experts across professions agree on three critical improvements to strengthen crime reporting and rebuild trust.
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Provide Context
One murder in a small town may be tragic, but is it part of a broader trend? Is it the first in five years? Has there been a rise in crime, or is the story an outlier? Jennings emphasizes that adding this kind of context allows the public to interpret crime stories more accurately and less fearfully. -
Consult Experts
Reporters should lean on criminologists, public health officials, and researchers to explain trends, offer solutions, and inject nuance. If cars are getting broken into, a criminologist may be able to say, “Yes, car break-ins are up 30%, and here’s why.” That’s way more useful than panic.” -
Ensure Accuracy and Empathy
Accuracy requires effort—checking facts, verifying details, and reaching out to sources, even when answers are slow to come. “If you’re really, truly seeking justice, it’s not about getting the attention, clicks, and praise online or whatever. It’s about making sure that you follow through on that case and you’re getting justice,” Jones said. Empathy means knowing when not to publish, how to frame sensitive stories, and understanding the long-term impact of how a person is portrayed.
Crime will always be a staple of news coverage. However, how journalists choose to tell those stories can either deepen public understanding or widen the divide.
Turner puts it simply: “I do think that we play a really big role in the perception, both good and bad.”
